Public buses and mount bromo

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Hi Everyone,

4 days without internet!!! That's some kind of record for me I think. I set off from Ubud in Bali, heading for Java. Getting the public bus from Ubud to the bus station in Denpasar to travel onwards proved very hard - I found the bus, but couldn't find out when it left, or how much it was, and since I wanted to do a lot of travel in one day, I got a taxi for the first part. After that, I got a public mini-bus from Denpasar to Gillimanuk, which is the ferry port in Bali, going to Java. The scenery and the journey was fantastic. Most people take overnight tourist buses between bali and java, and don't get to see any of that. Every scene was as amazing as the last and I almost didn't want to keep looking in case it wiped the one before from my head. For one long stretch of road you have rice paddies and the sea on one side, and then rice paddies, then a palm tree forest then mountains and volcanos behind on the other. I tried to take some pictures but there are so many trees along the road side it was hard to get a clear shot while moving, and in the end I just sat back and watched it all. The people on the minibus constantly changed, from school children catching a short ride to people travelling to market and although they didn't speak english they were all very friendly.

The ferry from Gillimanuk to Java is very easy - runs every 30 mins and takes about the same time, and I hardly felt the boat move. I'd decided to do the trip to Mount Bromo in two days, so I spent the night at a stupidly expensive hotel in the Java ferry port. Meant I had hot water and a pool though - though it was nearly dark when I went to use it.

The next morning, I got a taxi to the bus station, and got on another public bus to Probolinggo, which took about 5 manic hours, on a very big, fast coach. My first day of ramadan which was hard - no water on a hot hot bus. The scenery wasn't as good - a lot lot dryer, and a lot of forests with bare trees from wood cutting.

I arrived at Probolinggo bus station around the time of the last public bus to Mount Bromo, but it wont go if it's empty, and there was only me, so I caught a ride on a tourist shuttle bus. Bromo is a volcano up in the mountains, and best viewed at sunrise. Everyone goes to bed very early, and wakes up around 3 to walk across volcanic ash to the base of bromo, and then climb the many steps (breathing in suplhur on the way) to the top. Guides with donkeys follow you the whole way waiting until you're too tired to continue, but I'm stubborn, and the Austrian girl I was with was skint!

After getting back to the hotel for breakfast I was pretty ill, so I spent all of yesterday in bed, and just about managed some breakfast this morning. Luckily I'd booked in for two nights, thinking I would be pretty tired, so I had time to recover before the bat out of hell bus back down the mountain this afternoon.

I'm now in a little internet cafe in the middle of a locals place that took me a long time to find, even with directions, not too far from the bus station. I have an overnight bus booked in 1 1/2 hours to take me to Yogyakarta, which is the jumping off point for two ancient temples - Borobudur, and Prambanan - a tourist bus this time though. Going to spend around 4 days in Yogya - sounds like there is more than enough to do there for that. Most people I met in Bromo were on a 24 hours tourist bus from Yogya to Bali via Bromo so I got lots of tips on places to stay, prices of taxis, things to see etc. I'm going to try and fly then back to Bali - in Bali everyone says that's very hard to do, especially nearing the end of Ramadan, but here, everyone says it's easy, and I met a few people who's friends had taken a flight today or yesterday.

Hope life is good back home - send me all your news, messages from home are always nice.

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Photos

Gunung Batok
The walk across the volcanic ash to climb Bromo takes you past this extinct volcano.

Sunrise from the Tengger Caldera
We didn't quite make it to the top before sunrise - this is a view from part of the way up the side of Bromo.

Across the sands to Bromo
The white stone markers that are impossible to find before sunrise!

Tengger Caldera
The view from the village - 2 minutes walk from the hostel. Bromo is on the right, and Semeru on the left.